When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, its a good core workout. If youre sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More

Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More

Friday, July 1, 2016

Show To Know
This Way Of Feeling: Big Thief Talk Songwriting, Vulnerability, And Growing Old

Like any other profession, there are myriad reasons people become musicians. Drugs, booze, and groupies are among the most famous, as is the sort of validation that comes only from a crowd screaming your name. Making buckets of money was a valid reason in the pre-Napster era, and traveling is still an appeal. Some individuals, however, become musicians because they have no other choice, as if writing songs is their lone conduit to some unspoken human truth that sustains them when nothing else can. Adrienne Lenker falls into this final category.

As the frontwoman and primary songwriter for the Brooklyn-based band Big Thief, Lenker sees music as necessary for her survival. She speaks about songwriting as though she’s pursuing the one true platonic form of the song, continually failing but drawing ever closer to it each time. “I’ve heard other songwriters say, ‘It’s all just the same damn song anyway,’” she tells me from her Brooklyn apartment. “Everyone’s just trying to write the same song and all getting at the same thing.”
This has proven to be a lifelong process. By six, Lenker was playing guitar. By ten, she was writing proper songs. As an adult, she moved to New York with every intention of being in a band, staying the course as a solo artist until finding the right combination of people. “I’ve always wanted to be part of a band rather than be the face of something,” she says. “I was always was kind of looking for that band, but I knew that I had to wait until the right people came along.”

Guitarist Buck Meek and bassist Max Oleartchik came along thanks to chance encounters with Lenker – the former at the corner store shortly after she moved to Brooklyn. James Krivchenia went from being a regular at Big Thief gigs to permanent drummer and co-producer of their debut record. As far as Lenker is concerned, the lineup is now complete and permanent, and she points to her creative comfort around her bandmates as evidence. “I’ve finally been able to write songs around my band and in the van. That’s all the more telling that they’re the right people,” she says.

Last July, the foursome retreated to the shores of Lake Champlain in upstate New York to record their cheekily-titled debut, Masterpiece. Recorded over 12 days in the living room of an old friend’s estate, the album spans three years of Lenker’s songwriting, the most recent tracks written en route to the session. The record is a confessional, unobtrusive work. It bleeds, sometimes profusely, though it licks its own wounds clean. Lenker’s poetic lyrics splice the universal and the personal, specific details forming the core of global truths. On the folksy “Paul,” she croons over a melancholy guitar with unflinching sincerity, “We were just two moonshiners on the cusp of a breath, and I’ve been burning for you baby since the minute I left."
Perhaps there is strength in vulnerability, but Lenker is more interested in vulnerability for its own sake. As she tells it, Masterpiece’s raw, uninhibited emotional openness is a journey toward herself and others in search of the kind of human connection that changes people for life. “I think my songs are just this way of feeling and recognizing my own existence and reaching towards myself from outside myself,” she says. “Knowing how to be vulnerable and get to that point is a constant struggle. If I knew how to get to a place where I could just willingly be vulnerable, I would’ve discovered how to write songs constantly.”

Like every songwriter — dead or alive — she has never been in a place where the songs flow out uninhibited and without pause. Still, she is quick to promise that new material is coming soon, and will ideally be followed by a long career’s worth of music. “I hope that we can be making records and traveling and performing and loving the music we’re making for a long time,” she says. “I hope that we can be doing this into our old age.”

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Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"